The Unfortunate Effect Society Has On Our Linguistic Development

In today’s world there is an unfortunate reality faced by those who share language differences. The spectrum of this unfortunate reality ranges from many feeling the need to code switch in order to fit into their social group, to simply not wanting to talk in fear of judgement from peers. These specific examples were the underlying themes within the language narratives from Marcus, Micaelas, and myself. Drawing from all three narratives, similar points of some mistreatment of our language traits. Coinciding with these ideas are the two texts “Multilingualism” by John Edwards and “Language Subordination” by Rosina Lippi-Green. These texts share the idea along with the narratives that there is a disconnect within society regarding language.  Though in many ways similar, all of our experiences vary. However one thing is for certain, the three of us have all encountered something during the development of our linguistic traits, that we should have never. 

Nothing gets more in depth to the complexity of this matter than a true language narrative. In the three featured narratives from Marcus, Micaela, and myself, we all share the same frustration with how society holds us to a certain expectation to speak in a certain way based on our cultural backgrounds, societal standards, and impediments, or lack thereof. Marcus shares an incredible, and self analytical narrative where he goes into full depth how it seemed to him that many people expected him to speak in a certain way due to his ethnic background. 

However this way of speaking that was expected of him did not align with his true personality. Restating some of the things told to him like “I thought you were black but you sound white…What are you?”(Hanna 1) Being told something like this can only ever have a negative effect on someone. Essentially causing them to be all the more self critical, when they don’t have to be. This unfortunately wasn’t the only moment Marcus was put in a position where he was made to feel a certain way. He makes this clear when he stated that whenever “I would encounter my blackfriends I would change the way I talk. I would use slang that I normally wouldn’t use. I felt a little uncomfortable doing so but I just wanted to be accepted” (Hanna 1) This unfortunate account is a prime example of how one is made to feel in today’s society with regards to how their ethnic background defines the way they should be speaking. This ideology shares plenty of similarity with my narrative in the sense that my cultural identity, to many, is the defining point for what language I should know/speak. Being that I am hispanic, it is assumed by many that I am fluent in the Spanish language. Unfortunately I am not, and when this becomes a realization to those who assumed I could speak the language, it creates a moment of awkwardness. This is due to them viewing me as less than, causing me to have this feeling of not belonging to my hispanic community. Making matters worse, I was later referred to as a “fake Dominican, whitewashed…whiteboy” (Rodriguez 1) which caused me to feel quite self conscious. That same feeling of self consciousness was the recurring point throughout Micaela’s language narrative. Recounting the horrifying moments causing her to have confidence issues with the way she spoke due to her lisp. An issue like such was not something that was easily handled by her. Causing her to feel that “speaking in class was a chore because [she] felt like everyone was secretly laughing at the way [she] spoke. Which, unfortunately, wasn’t untrue.” (Lue 2) All experiences reflect back to the idea that the general public does have a rather harsh effect on how we develop as speakers. One would think that the people today would be accepting of people’s differences in how they speak, unfortunately this is not the case. Instead, societal influences have had a damaging effect in this instance.

The three of us share many great aspects within our narratives, as well as a few differences, all purposeful. The purpose being to highlight the effects our community, schoolmates, family, friends, etc, have had both negatively and positively affecting our language development. Marcus and I both share a sense of not belonging to our cultural backgrounds. His being more severe than mine due to his experiences being biracial, as mine was more along the lines of feeling invalidated by my hispanic community for not speaking the language. As for Micaela, her experiences were quite different from both Marcus’ and myself. Her experiences were centered around not feeling confident in speaking due to a lisp. Being looked down upon and teased by classmates. Causing her to be incredibly self critical, and being defeated by the negative ideals of society. Though there are some differences between our experiences, one thing is for certain, the three of us shared some essence of feeling judged, mocked, and uncomfortable. All tying to the central idea of that unfortunate reality faced by people like us with language differences. Calling into question why our general public sets such a high standard for something like language. It all comes down to basic communication, but it seems that societal standards have made it all the more complicated.

So why is society so judgemental and critical to how somones else feels most comfortable in their communicative expression? That is the million dollar question. Who is behind this standard way of speaking, and why is it enforced?  In “Multilingualism” the author touches base on the idea that “a standard dialect is, roughly, that spoken by educated people and is the form usually found in writing.”(Edwards 95) Conveying the point that society gets this idea of what is the “proper language”. However this may not be fair for all. As evident many people are still subjected to certain influences growing up that cause them to speak a certain way. Meaning that there are educated people that may speak in a way that may not be accepted by most of our community. There are quite a few influences that affect the way people judge, two being “social stereotypes…[and] aesthetic judgments.”(Edwards 96) These could be the leading causes as to why people judge in the way they do, assume in the way they do, etc. Marcus felt uncomfortable when it came to feeling that he had to talk differently in order to fit in with certain friends, Micaela felt uncomfortable to talk in general due to her lisp, and I felt uncomfortable to admit that I couldn’t speak Spanish. All complex but valid reasons to feel the way we did, but again, why?  In Rosina Lippi-Green’s text “Language Subordination” she states that “sociolinguistics have established that language is flexible and constantly flexing, and that emblematic marking of social allegiances is not random.”(Lippi-Green 66) With this in mind, one would think that there shouldn’t be any judgment or negative connotation pertaining to how we look at one another and our language indifferences. Though that may be true, there are these social stereotypes and this sense of a linguistic hierarchy within society. There could be an end to this one day, or not, but one is for certain is that it exists, and we as a society need to have a better understanding of this to overcome it.

Our communities today are complex, they contain layers, and multitudes. Even with its immense diversity and wide range of acceptance toward differences, our society is often still hard on people with these different language speaking capabilities. Many of us are subjected to the critical and intense judgments of others. Judgment we certainly don’t need, but still receive. If one thing should be changed in order to combat this harshe judgment from others it should be the intense amount of language bias spread throughout. A major component seen in all three language narratives is the theme of language bias. Therefore, in order to heal the divide within our society the first major step should be to put an end to that idea that someone should feel excluded based on how they speak. Whether it be due to age, cultural background, race, nationality, or physical aspects, it must come to an end. If not then many may still experience the unfortunate effects that society has on our linguistic development.